I’ve rediscovered cycling later in my life. I was born and raised in Colorado and rode bikes like any kid, but never took it seriously. After a short teaching career in Wyoming, I moved to Japan for what I thought would be a one year stint. Instead, it stretched to 24 years over a 43-year period. I initially worked for a large Japanese steel company in Tokyo and took up road cycling with the De Rosa that I still ride. After 10 years, marriage, and a child, I moved to investment banking for another 10, but cycling fell by the wayside. In the late 1990’s we moved to Colorado and later to New Mexico, where I bought the New Mexico Pinon Coffee Company. I took up mountain biking in the foothills of the Sandias and rediscovered the joys of cycling. I later added a crossbike, and that, combined with my De Rosa, restarted my road journeys. In 2016 we moved back to Japan to be with my wife’s elderly father. Since then, I have joined two riding clubs, one in Yokohama with over 200 members, of which I am the only American, and another in Tokyo, which as a large mix of foreign and Japanese riders. While mountain biking in Albuquerque, I bought my wife a mountain bike, and she discovered the fun. Together, we have recently visited several countries for bike tours, and enjoyed touring in the rural regions of Japan, and are already planning several trips for 2018.
Cycling Ambassadors
Team CSP-SBI cycling ambassadors share a passion for cycling and learning about the world we live in. We encourage people to use cycling as affordable transportation, to reach health and wellness goals, build community, explore the world in a fun and sustainable way, and challenge ourselves to reach for our best.
Originally from Japan, she has lived in Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico and traveled all over the West. She is fascinated by the grandeur of the Southwest, U.S.A. and loves taking photos of natural landscapes, wildlife, and bike races! She also enjoys riding a mountain bike on a quiet (and flat) road in nature!
Michael Ort is a professor who teaches about volcanoes and the environment. He has ridden all his life – never really had a time he didn’t, after getting a hand-me-down bike at age 5 from his sisters. He rides any kind of bike any time he can, and often brings a bike when he travels. Riding with his wife and daughter (on a tandem so her seizures don’t cause crashes) is a particular highlight.
Rich Molsby is a founder of MOBO Law, a law firm in California and Nevada. He has been an avid cyclist all his life and his claim to fame is being the first person to mountain bike from the summit of Mammoth Mountain in 1985. Rich thinks that cycling is a great way to enjoy the outdoors, relieve stress, stay fit, and be environmentally conscientious. In the winter, you can see him riding his fatbike through the snowy mountains of the Sierra Nevada and the rest of the year he rides between client meetings.
I learned to love cycling at a very young age from my dad. We loved to explore the outdoors together and cycling was one of our favorite ways to do this. Growing up in Silver City, the Tour of the Gila was one of the bigger sporting events in our small town and I soon fell in love with competitive cycling. As I began my professional career in finance, cycling became even more important as a way to maintain balance in my life and stay connected with the outdoors. Now I’m looking forward to introducing my son to cycling and the positive impact it can have in your life.
A native North Carolinian, Jimmy Guignard teaches composition, rhetoric, nature writing, and mountain biking at Mansfield University in northcentral Pennsylvania. He is the author of Pedaling the Sacrifice Zone: Teaching, Writing, and Living above the Marcellus Shale (Texas A&M University Press, 2015), a book exploring his experiences watching the rural Pennsylvania county he and his family settled in turn into an industrial sacrifice zone during the Marcellus shale drilling boom. He rides all kinds of bikes in all kinds of weather, and lately has been enjoying the steep learning curve of riding a fat bike on snowy trails in single-digit temps.
I am a plant ecologist with Live Oak Associates and have been road/mountain cycling for 25 years.
William fell in love with the bicycle at the age of 13 and has not stop riding and exploring for the last 25+ years. He is concerned with how society can use the bicycle as means of transportation, interaction, community and awareness. His current favorite bike is the jack of all trades, a cyclocross bike! William currently lives in Bozeman, Montana looking for perfect vistas in the morning light with his wife and 2 active daughters.
Southwest Bike Initiative 